FORMER National Kidney Foundation (NKF) director Richard Yong has been sentenced to 15 months of jail, becoming the first member of the old NKF board to go to jail.

Tuesday saw the end of his two-year roller-coaster ride on the back of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal which shocked the nation.

The sentence on Tuesday took into consideration three charges. Under the Bankruptcy Act, he was charged with the failure to disclose his bank accounts and the transfer of his American Club membership to his wife.

The sentence also included the charge of fraudulent transfer of property, under the penal code.

'The sentence should reflect the gravity of the offence, 'said Judge Liew Chiam Leng.

Judge Liew said the aggravating factors included Yong's illegal flight from Singapore to other countries, namely Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Yong's fraudulent transfer of large sums of money of up to $4 million rendered the funds irrecoverable, which could have been used to pay his creditors.

Yong, 66, had earlier admitted to two charges of contravening the Bankruptcy Act, for which he could have been fined the maximum $10,000 and jailed up to three years for each offence.

Yong had earlier also pleaded guilty to fraudulently transferring close to $4 million to his wife On Shu Kio, 63. The penalty for this is a fine and up to two years in jail.

Yong was one of four ex-NKF board members who were sued by its new leadership in January this year for failing in their duties to the charity.

By February, Yong conceded defeat.

But he failed to pay damages amounting to nearly $900,000 to the charity, and was made a bankrupt on May 16. That same day, he was convicted and fined $5,000 for failing his duties as an NKF director.

He skipped town with his wife in the wee hours of the next morning, without approval from the Official Assignee (OA). The couple remained in Malaysia till May 23 before moving to Hong Kong.

It was not until July 4 that the Hong Kong police arrested him on a request from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). He was brought back to Singapore on Aug 3 and has since been in remand.

His wife remains in Hong Kong on HK$100,000 (S$19,386) bail after she was charged with money laundering.

What CAD investigations showed: Yong had transferred $3.93 million to his wife to avoid paying damages to the charity.

He also failed to tell the OA about his bank accounts containing more than $10,000 and an American Club membership which he had transferred to his wife.

Among the charges that were taken into consideration were his sales of three apartments, which came up to over $7 million. The nett proceeds after paying off the mortgages were over $3 million.

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